[Warning: Contains Spoilers Within]
After the latest chapter of One Piece (763) and witnessing Doflamingo’s backstory, it got me thinking; is Doflamingo really a bad guy?
I mean think about it. I know a lot of people had tragic back stories but what Doflamingo went through would fuck with you head.
KINGS OF THE WORLD
Imagine you were a King once upon a time. And I don’t mean any old King but a Celestial Dragon who were Kings of the whole damn world! People would do anything to reach that kind of status.
I am sure more than 50% of people in the world would be willing to do despicable and immoral acts to attain that glory for themselves and their family. But obviously this bunch of elite human beings is exclusive to royalty. Nobody can just sign up and join the Celestial Dragons.
SCUM OF THE EARTH
Now imagine if this status was removed. You lived this heavenly life-style where you were taught you were better than everybody else and then suddenly one day everything is taken away from you and you are the scum of the earth and everybody hates you, like literally everybody; just because you were born a Celestial Dragon.
I’m sure Doflamingo never chose to be born this way. I’m pretty sure if he had a choice, he would have chosen to do so anyway, but that isn’t the point here. He was a child, who didn’t know any better and to be treated that way was unfair. Would you want revenge upon the world for having to go through the shit he went through? Yes you would!
He was tortured repeatedly, shamed and humiliated and even lost his mother because of it. Losing a mother through such means can screw with anybody. Can you imagine the pain? Sometimes I think about all the deaths caused by war and how many Doflamingo’s are created because of it.
HUMAN SIDE
Now we know Doflamingo isn’t all bad… We know how you ask? Well isn’t it obvious, I mean his merry “band of followers” is a living proof of that. Nobody would follow you to the ends of the earth if they didn’t believe in you. These people are a family. The Donquixote Family and the completely support their Master. How they came about to following him, I am not entirely sure but as we saw with Monet, she was willing to die for Doflamingo. He too has aspirations, he too has a dream and just like Luffy, he has nakama who are willing to die for him.
Vergo even spent 10 years training to become and rise amongst the marines just to please Doflamingo. Even someone like Bellamy, who he treats like shit, is willing to die for this man. There must be something about him that they worship. I say humanly side but I think it’s more of a godly side. They see him as a higher being at times. Perhaps it is because he once was a Celestial Dragon. I am not entirely sure but I am sure we will find out sooner or later.
CONNECTION WITH LAW
Now this was the most interesting bit. Doflamingo meets a kid who is dying. This kid is full of hatred for the world and nobody wants anything to do with him. He’s been wronged by the world and yet they’re refusing to help him. Not only does Doflamingo offer to take him in, he offers this kid hope of surviving this incurable disease.
However, Doflamingo’s generosity didn’t end there. You see, we get to witness Doflamingo reading up about this kid and what he’s been through and in turn this triggers him nightmares of his own childhood. He connects with Law and what he has been through so therefore he offers Law a chance to become his right-hand in the future.
You could say, Doflamingo saw himself in Law; a kid who has nothing but hatred for the humans of the world.
So this kid who the world had forsaken, Doflamingo gave a second life to. So can you imagine the hatred he carries for Law for his betrayal?
Looking at it from Doflamingo’s point of view, he has every right to be furious with Trafalgar Law. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Obviously we don’t have the whole story of what happened as of yet but it is something to think about for now.
TAKING BACK HIS INHERITANCE
Doflamingo lost everything when his father gave up his position as a Celestial Dragon. He tried to rectify the solution by offering his father’s head to them but unfortunately that didn’t work. Lucky for him, he managed to escape with a secret that would allow him to use as a bargaining chip.
Now gaining back his position amongst the Celestial Dragons was impossible. However, what was there to stop him to regain his rightful place as the King of Dressrosa? Considering his family had given up the right to rule a country to gain immortality, now that his status was revoked, Doflamingo felt it his right to be given back his country. So he took it back. And not exactly by force either. He played a dirty game and became a hero, similar to what Crocodile was planning in Arabasta.
So he made King Riku kill his own people and enslaved half the country as toys but at least he made everybody forget about them right. So not all bad if you think about it? He had a good thing going for him until Luffy and Law messed it all up for him. Well, I saw Luffy and Law. What I actually mean is GOD USSOP!
Jokes aside, I can understand Doflamingo’s way of going about things. He wants revenge but he also has a compassionate side to those who have suffered at the hands of the World Government. He is also an enemy of the WG and Celestial Dragons. So in a sense, he could have become somewhat of an anti-hero.
So there you have it… My points on why Doflamingo isn’t completely bad. Yes, he’s an absolute jerk but some of that shit is justified although most is probably not but then again…
Nevermind, I’m just going to keep rambling. Feel free to leave your thoughts below so we can have an awesome discussion on this matter.
Sleeping Geeks 
Doflamingo is an awful person. It doesn’t matter what your upbringing is like or whatever shit happens to you, if you do something like literally control a well loved king who had nothing but love for his own people and his army massacre so much of his own people, you’re a disgusting human being. Yes his history isn’t good and that only turned him into a despicable human being, that’s all it is. Also, a lot of people follow evil people, they don’t have to have some super good side that make people adore them, some just join for the power and respect that the person has that.
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Bro, Tell me, people who call kid monster and want to kill innocent child are better? Because literally this is what most of them does, is much worse than you think, Doflamingo said they are victim, for so called normal people children like Law were monster, problem to be solved, catastrophe… for me he is at least better thanks to this
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Doflamingo is an awful person. It doesn’t matter what your upbringing is like or whatever shit happens to you, if you do something like literally control a well loved king who had nothing but love for his own people and his army massacre so much of his own people, you’re a disgusting human being. Yes his history isn’t good and that only turned him into a despicable human being, that’s all it is. Also, a lot of people follow evil people, they don’t have to have some super good side that make people adore them, some just join for the power and respect that the person has that.
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What about him giving Law hope? Everybody left Law to die. He saved Law and gave him something to live for. He took him in…
Also, the King Riku incident was unfortunate. However, it was the only way to take over the country without a war. And it was his country to begin with. So in his mind, it still belongs to him because his family exchanged it for the Celestial Dragon status.
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He did give Law a reason to live. To be the right-hand of a disturbed guy wanting to destroy the world.
Doflamingo didn’t start a war because he was being nice. He had to be sneaky. He did it to keep his Warlord status and not incur the Navy’s wrath. And, it’s not his country. His family left Dressrosa by their own accord centuries ago. They gave up any and all ownership when they became Celestial Dragons.
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Indeed the did give it up… For celestial dragonship. Now that the dragonship has been taken away, he wants his Kingdom back. I see it similar to Israels occupation of Palestine.
The Navy can’t do anything to him because of the secret of mariejois he knows.
As for Law, he could have left him to die… He showed empathy. He took him in. That’s how I see it.
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And he also gave Law a reason to hate him. Law isn’t the type to turn on someone and want to cause their end for no reason.
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That is true… But we don’t know who was in the wrong in this situation. Only time will tell…
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Completely disagree with you.
Some of where you’re coming from seems to be that Doflamingo cares about his crew therefor he isn’t that bad. I think we as readers expect the bad guy to be 100% heartless but people aren’t usually like that. They have their reason(s) for doing what that do and can justify themselves but having a good reason doesn’t excuse evil behavior. Being kind to the people closest to you doesn’t excuse evil behavior.
He recruits people who had horrible life experiences. Okay, but that doesn’t make him nice. Having followers don’t make you a good person. He’s taking a child under his wing to mold him into someone who thinks and acts like him, that’s not good.
Plenty of people in real life and in One Piece had crappy experiences but not all of them become evil. Robin, Sabo, and Franky all have reasons to hate the WG but they aren’t killing civilians, wiping people’s memories, or trying to destroy the entire world. It comes down to choice. You can either choose to let the world destroy your soul or you can rise above it. Granted, raising above it isn’t easy but it can be done.
Doflamingo is screwed up. He’s smart, rational, and charismatic but he’s still screwed up.
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Apart from Robin, the rest could live normal lives. Doflamingo could not, as he was firstly raised completely different to normal humans and secondly because the world wanted to use him as a means for revenge.
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It still comes down to choice. You can’t kill people because you had a crappy life. Going from “God” to human is no excuse to turn an entire country upside down. Yes, I can understand why he’s doing this but I can’t condone it.
I feel sorry for the child Doflamingo but adult Doflamingo needs to get therapy, find a hobby, and move on with his life. Talking about this does help me realize Doflamingo seriously needs his butt kicked.
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Lol… I love this! Best response I’ve had so far!
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The point of the post, as far as I know, was to say that Doflamingo is not a 100% heartless monster, not that he’s actually a nice guy, so most of the answers here are missing the central point, I think.
Still, if it all comes to a neutral perspective about Doflamingo, he’s indeed a monster.
But… so is Luffy? I mean, he’s a criminal who goes around doing whatever he feels like, killing quite a bunch of people around the world (yes, killing. Since he’s the main character, Oda usually simply doesn’t ever show up the baddies again, or like with Enel, says they were punched to the moon. But using common sense, he’s wrecking many asses).
Don’t misunderstand me, they are not comparable at all. Luffy does all that due to strong morals and personal justice but, nevertheless, this does not excuse him for ignoring the law constantly and inflicting his personal justice upon the world.
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That’s an interesting take on it using Luffy. Truth be told, he is seen as a bad guy by the world government… But yeah, the point of the article was to say, Doflamingo isn’t completely bad.
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oda says Luffy never kills
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I don’t think Doflamingo is entirely bad. When Law had his sword against Jora’s neck in order to buy time for Nami to activate Coup de Burst, Doflamingo didn’t attack. If Doflamingo’s is so ”heartless”, he could’ve just attacked and let Jora die, but he CHOSE not to. Someone like that…
Are the bad guys really bad?
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Nice observation. I didn’t even pick up on that. Just makes you realize, he isn’t entirely evil, just has the wrong mindset.
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Doflamingo was a child in an adults world. Thats honestly one of the most fucked up things you can do to a child. You give them no chance to be free and nonchalant, you essentially strip them of their childhood. Do anyone here know how psychologically damaging that is to a child? If I were Doflamingo, I woulda done way worse to the public. In fact i find him quite reasonable and forgiving. Cause if i had that power and stress related revenge? If i knew the only reason my mother died was my idiot father? Ya i’d probably ruin everyone i came across, kill without regret and give overwhelming gratitude to whoever helped me. Because at that point, all Doffy had was his brother. He had no family. And having no family can fuck up ANYONE! It shows a lack of acceptance and being wanted in this world. When you have nobody but yourself, you become cynical. You dont care who lives or dies. You just care about your own agenda. And Doffy deserves revenge. Although instead of a peaceful town, he should have been a celestial assassin. Although i have no problems with what Doffy did. I mean lets look at it this way. You’re 5 years old and you’ve just been stripped of your god like status. You’re tortured for no reason and you have nothing but hatred towards those kinds of people. Then you discover a country that has never been to war or has any conflict. I understand why Doffy was pissed. Nobody should be without war or conflict, because that creates a certain sense of Utopia. Something that Doffy once had, and was lost. He wanted to literally rape Dessrosa of its peace because he thought it deserved the same fate as him. And i agree. No nation should be at peace, because for a nation to be a at peace means it willingly loses all form of individual thought. Utopia cant be obtained unless everyone is under the same brainwashing mindset. And Doffy actually changed that. Those who messed around? Turned into toys. Those who behaved? Didnt have anything happen. It wasnt a utopia anymore, it was an oligarchy. Lets be honest here, Doffy actually helped improve Dressrosa and advanced it. What the hell did Riku do? Just sit on his ass in the throne all day? No if you want to be a leader you have to take action and ascend your social status. Thats exacly what Doffy did. If the people of old Dressrosa were living in paradise, the Doffy has every right to strip them of their perfection, just like he was stripped of his. And the citizens of Dressrosa arent even Celestial. Why should they get special treatment? They dont. And thats why the Dressrosa war starts. Doffy doesnt care who dies, he’s never cared about their lives in the first place. And why should he?
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Thanks for the comment. I never seen anybody empathise with Doffy this well before. Nice work!
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See, if I had Doffy’s power, I’d tear shit up just for the giggles. No trauma required.
Also, all the justification of his current actions due to his past ring hollow when he had a brother who went through the same thing and yet embodied their parent’s kind-hearted nature. Doffy was always going to be a prick. If he wasn’t stripped of his status, he would have been that snot-nosed fat punk randomly shooting people and generally treating them as chattel that we saw in Sabaody.
He’s still my favorite villain, if only for his laugh alone. He’s like the Joker (you think his crimelord alter-ego was a coincidence?). Why bother justifying what he does? Just enjoy the ride while the world burns! EHEHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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I agree with everyone here- the good and the bad. I understand Doffy went through huge trauma as a child, and then later took it out on the people. But what about Corazon- his ONLY family left. Why would he shoot him 6 times, make sure he died? I still don’t quite understand this. Was it because he was a double-agent? But to be honest, that seems like too petty a reason to me…
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“Those To Whom Evil Is Done, Will Do Evil In Return !”
Example : Doffy
“Those Who Do Good Things To Others, Something Good Is Bound To Happen To Them”
Example : Law
Every person has their own sense of justice which is different from others, remember that !
Doffy was F***ed in return he started F***ing others because seed of evil was implanted by Trebol during his childhood.
Again, Niko Robin as also F***ed during Ohara Genocide but seed of kindness was implanted by Saul.
Now, about our Real Life – Doffys are born from War, Poverty, Hatred, Discrimination – known as Terrorist – Unless the Vicious Cycle of Evil is broken – Doffys will keep coming.
Finally, About this Article , is Doffy 100% evil ? Yes, have no doubt, Doffy Look Down Upon People, USED his Subordinates as he saw FIT but it is also TRUE that those Subs ADMIRED him for whatever reasons they had.
I admired Hitler for some of the things he did but Hitler is not necessary a good guy.
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Very well put. I liked the comparison to Hitler. Admired by some, hated by the rest.
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Imagine thinking that your tragic backstory excuses the fact that you usurped a kingdom and enslaved its inhabitants to produce an experimental drug with terrible side-effects and which effects are tested on little children on the command of an even bigger tyrant than you. Not to mention that you killed your baby brother, the only family you had left- who, by the way, grew up just like you and managed to become a kind, loving person and a dutiful son.
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Every villain is a hero in his own story using excuses such as a tragic backstory to cover up their behaviour.
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This post is really old but I’m rewatching One Piece rn and just found this! Doffy is my favourite character (together with Zoro) and I really enjoyed reading through this.
I do agree with most of your points, I think people writing Doffy off as 100% evil didn’t really pay attention to his backstory. There are scenes clearly shown to make Doffy a more likeable character, despite all his evil actions. Such as apologizing to his Nakama and openly saying he regrets some of his choices, or the flashback where Law is taken in by the Donquixote family and they all just have a good time playing family.
Now, I do think Doflamingo is a cruel and apathetic monster. And I don’t think his backstory is an excuse for all the horrible things he has done. I think out of all the One Piece villains I’ve known so far, he is the most evil. His nickname “Heavenly Demon” describes him perfectly. However, strangely enough he still has a human side to him. In the flashback where he has that nightmare it almost feels like as if he is a completely other person once he takes his glasses off and doesn’t have to act like the “young master” everybody sees in him.
People who disagree with your opinion are oftentimes saying that even though he suffered the same things as a child, his brother Rocinante became a loving and caring guy. However, I think they are missing some important psychological points there. First of all, Doflamingo was the older kid, so his personality had already been formed and molded by being raised as a typical Celestial Dragon. He was already too old to be “re-educated” by his parents or by simply forcing him to live as a normal human. Rocinante was younger and the younger a child is, the more you can influence how its personality will come out. But that isn’t all, Rocinante was lucky enough to get taken in by the Marine, by people who taught him the right things. Doffy however was taken in by Trebol and the others who constantly encouraged his feelings of anger and revenge and used his trauma and hatred to turn him into a monster.
In my opinion, Doflamingo is a tragic victim of society. First he was a victim to the awful mindset of the Celestial Dragons, then to the horrible consequences of his father’s actions and lastly to the influence and manipulation by ruthless pirates. Unlike other characters with tragic backstories, he didn’t even have the chance to “choose to be good” since he had been manipulated right from his birth and it never stopped.
Another point I like you pointed out was him taking in Law and giving him hope. I do agree with that, however he also wanted to manipulate Law to become his right hand and to basically think just like him, which isn’t really a good thing to do. I think crew members like Baby 5 or Dellinger are actually a better example here. They were little kids, Dellinger even a 1 year old baby, they didn’t have any deceases and didn’t have the hatred Law had when he joined the family. They were simply abandoned children, and they weren’t of any use to Doflamingo, yet he still chose to take them in and treat them like family.
My point here is, Doflamingo is definitely a bad guy. His actions cannot be excused by any means. But I think his backstory explains pretty well that despite being a cruel monster, sometimes his pretty likeable human side shines through.
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I like going back to this post every now and again and reading through comments to see if things change in regards to my opinion about doffy. I like that you’ve bought me back to it once again. Doffy is a favourite “villain” of mine throughout all genres and fandoms. I think Oda has done a brilliant job with him.
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